“Age makes you notice certain things. For example, I now know that a man’s life is broadly divided into three periods. During the first, it doesn’t even occur to us that one day we will grow old, we don’t think that time passes or that from the day we are born we’re all walking toward a common end. After the first years of youth comes the second period, in which a person becomes aware of the fragility of life and what begins like a simple niggling doubt rises inside you like a flood of uncertainties that will stay with you for the rest of your days. Finally, toward the end of life, the period of acceptance begins, and, consequently, of resignation, a time of waiting.”
“Whenever it poured like this, Max felt as if time was pausing. It was like a cease-fire during which you could stop whatever you were doing and just stand by a window for hours, watching the performance, an endless curtain of tears falling from heaven.”
“[H]e lay awake, dreading the dawn when he would have to say good-bye to the small universe he had built for himself over the years.”
“Max had once read in one of his father's books that some childhood images become engraved in the mind like photographs, like scenes you can return to again and again and will always remember, no matter how much time goes by.”
“He lost himself in the words and images conjured in his mind and for a while forgot ... He found himself flying among stars and planets ...”
“Now he knew that any memories he might cherish during the last years of his life would be only fictions from a biography he'd never lived.”
“1My father says a hunch is your brain’s way of taking a short cut to the truth,’ replied Max.
‘He’s a wise man, your father. What else does he say?’
‘That the more you try to hide from the truth, the quicker it finds you.”
“Aquel día, sin saberlo, mientras contemplaba a su familia deambular arriba y abajo con las maletas y sostenía el reloj que le había regalado su padre, Max dejó para siempre de ser un niño.”
“La vida de un hombre se divide básicamente en tres períodos. En el primero, uno ni siguiera piensa que envejecerá, ni que el tiempo pasa ni que, desde el primer día, cuando nacemos, caminamos hacia un único fin. Pasada la primera juventud, empieza el segundo período, en el que uno se da cuenta de la fragilidad de la propia vida y lo que en un principio es una simple inquietud va creciendo en el interior como un mar de dudas e incertidumbres que te acompañan durante el resto de tus días. Por último, al final de la vida se abre el tercer período, el de la aceptación de la realidad y, consecuentemente, la resignación y la espera. A lo largo de mi existencia he conocido a muchas personas que se quedaron ancladas en alguno de esos estadios y nunca lograron superarlos. Es algo terrible.”
“Sentía que por primera vez en su vida, el tiempo transcurría más rápido de lo que deseaba y que ya no podía refugiarse en el sueño de años pasados. La rueda de la fortuna había empezado a girar y, esta vez, él no había tirado los dados”
“Vrijeme ne postoji, zato ga ne možemo gubiti.”
“Cuando llovía con fuerza, Max sentía que el tiempo se detenía. Era como una tregua en la cual uno podía dejar de hacer cualquier cosa que le ocupase en aquel momento y sencillamente acercarse a contemplar el espectáculo de aquella infinita cortina de lágrimas del cielo desde una ventana, durante horas. Dejó de nuevo el libro sobre la mesita y apagó la luz. Lentamente, envuelto en el sonido hipnótico de la lluvia, se rindió al sueño.”
“Había permanecido en la sombra, esperando, sin prisa, a que alguna fuerza lo trajese de nuevo al mundo de los vivos. Y nada tiene tanta fuerza como una promesa...”
“Fu allora che si accorse di non essere solo all'interno del mausoleo, e che un profilo scuro si muoveva sul soffitto, avanzando silenziosamente come un insetto. Max sentì l'orologio scivolare dalle mani fredde di sudore e alzo lo sguardo. Uno degli angeli di pietra che aveva visto all'entrata camminava capovolto sul soffitto. La figura si fermò e, guardando Max, mostrò un sorriso crudele e allungò un dito accusatore contro di lui.”
“Los malos recuerdos te persiguen sin necesidad de llevarlos contigo”
“U beskrajnom univerzumu bilo je previše stvari koje su izmicale ljudskom razumijevanju.”
“Pogrešno je misliti da se snovi ostvaruju, a da mi ne ponudimo ništa zauzvrat.”
“Kolo sreće počelo se okretati, ali ovaj put on nije bacio kockice.”
“Morat će proći još mnogo godina prije nego što Max zaboravi ljeto kad je otkrio, gotovo sasma slučajno, magiju.”
“There is an old French curse: may your fondest wish come true. If this treatment is cheap and available to everyone, it will destroy the earth through overpopulation. If it is dear and available only to the very rich, it will cause riots, wars, a breakdown of the social contract. Either way, it will lead directly to human misery. What is the value of a long life, when it is lived in squalor and unhappiness?”
“Will had been taken aback in his confrontation with Arisaka to discover that his name- Chocho- meant "Butterfly"... He was puzzled to know why they had selected it. His friends, of course, delighted in helping him guess the reason.
'I assume it's because you're such a snazzy dresser,' Evanlyn said. 'You Rangers are a riot of color, after all.'...
'I think it might be more to do with the way he raced around the training ground, darting here and there to correct the way a man might be holding his shield, then dashing off to show someone how to put their body weight into their javelin cast,' said Horace, a little more sympathetically. Then he ruined the effect by adding thoughtlessly, 'I must say, your cloak did flutter around like a butterfly's wings.”
“I GOT BOURBON-FACED ON SHIT STREET!”
“I want you to go back to Tucson and bring me the bottle of tequila I keep in my liquor cabinet. And don't scare Tim."
Volusian remained motionless in that way of his. "My mistress grows increasingly creative in her ways to torment me."
"I thought you'd appreciate it."
"Only in so much as it inspires me to equally creative means to rip you apart when I am able to break free of these bonds and finally destroy you."
"You see? There's a silver lining to everything. Now hurry up.”
“And the Lady's mate. Despite having only two legs and small fangs, there was much that was feline in that one, and he approved.”
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